Jellyfish Sting
by Eclipse-Vamp
Summary: Entry for the plot bunny contest. Bella and Edward are at the beach when Bella gets stung by a jellyfish. Edward takes her home in hopes of finding Carlisle, but Jasper's there instead. Jasper/Bella bonding ensues.


**A/N: Here's my first contest entry for the Plot Bunny Contest. I've been entering a lot of contests lately because they're so addicting. I got some pretty interesting plots. Here's the one I got for this story: ****Plot Bunny #1: Human Bella visits the beach on a cloudy day with vampire boyfriend Edward. Unfortunately, she gets stung by a jellyfish. Someone has to pee on it to ease her pain, but Edward obviously won't be that person. It's up to you whether someone else steps in or they find another way to help Bella.**

_Disclaimer: Anything you recognize in here doesn't belong to me. I own nothing._

_

* * *

_**ENTRY FOR THE PLOT BUNNY CONTEST**  
**Story Name: Jellyfish Sting**  
**Penname: Eclipse-Vamp**  
**Rating: K**  
**Word Count (not including header/author's note): 2,007**  
**To see other entries in the Plot Bunny Contest, please visit the following C2:**  
**http:/www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/community/Plot_Bunny_Contest/82048/**

Bella loved water almost as much as she loved the heat and sun. That's why Edward had taken her to the beach, despite her many protests of how he shouldn't have to drive out of town just for her amusement. Edward wouldn't listen to a word of her complaints, thus they were now enjoying a cloudy day in the ocean.

Bella tried not to let any of the girls drooling desperately over her boyfriend get her down, but sometimes they did. All of the girls were so much prettier than her—tall, tan, lovely bodies…Bella shook her thoughts away. It didn't matter what they looked like—Edward had chosen her over every other girl in the world. Though when they "accidentally" lost their bikini tops next to her boyfriend . . . Bella had to actually restrain herself from tackling them.

Edward shuddered, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes.

"What?" Bella asked, rocking back and forth as the tide tried to sweep her away.

"Strange how teenage girls can have such obscene fantasies about me," Edward grimaced and Bella ground her teeth. "It's nothing for you to worry about, dear. Mind reading can be quite annoying at times."

"I can only imagine," Bella grumbled, sending glares to the girls that were giggling and pointing at Edward. "Want to swim farther out?"

"Anything for you, my love," Edward said, the right side of his mouth pulling up into Bella's favorite crooked grin. He smiled harder when he heard Bella's heart flutter. "Glad to see I'm still dazzling you."

Bella blushed, looking down at the ever-moving saltwater. Edward grabbed her hand and she looked up. He silently cocked his head to one side, indicating whether or not she'd like to swim out farther.

Bella nodded and started swimming as fast as she could towards deeper water. They weren't very far out still—the water only went up to her chest.

"Ow!" Bella gasped, jumping at the stinging and shock that was jolting through her body.

"Bella?" Edward asked, panic reaching his voice. "What's wrong, Bella? Are you okay?"

"No," Bella hissed through clenched teeth as she tried to touch her stomach. Once her fingers touched where the pain was, they started to burn as well. "Ow, ow, ow!"

Edward was underwater in an instant, looking to see what was wrong with Bella. There was a large welt-looking spot on her stomach with a couple of jellyfish tentacles attached to her body. He grabbed the squishy little things and took them off his loved one before surfacing yet again to Bella's worried face.

"What's wrong?" she asked, trying not to touch the burning spot on her stomach.

"You got stung by a jellyfish," Edward said gravely. "Come on, let's get you home to Carlisle. Maybe he can help." He gently touched the small of her back and led her out of the water and back towards their towels. Bella started to wrap herself up in one, but Edward stopped her.

"What?" she asked.

"It's best to not put cloth on them," Edward explained as they headed out of the beach. "I'm so sorry. This is my entire fault—"

"Stop," Bella sighed. "It's the jellyfish's fault if anyone's."

Edward grinned but it didn't reach his eyes. He gently put Bella on a towel in his car and drove off. Bella could hear the car accelerating quicker and quicker. She decided it was safest to study the strange rash on her stomach; she didn't think she could handle looking at the surroundings zipping past her or seeing what speed Edward was driving at. There were a couple of bumps rising on it and the rash started to itch. When she tried to scratch it, Bella whimpered in pain. Edward's foot pressed harder against the gas pedal and he shifted into the highest gear.

"So," Bella started nervously. She knew how much Edward overreacted and wanted to try to distract him before he broke something. "Can we go back to the beach sometime?"

Edward glared out the windshield and Bella shrank in her seat.

"Please tell me that we won't have to go to the hospital for this," she tried again. Edward glanced at her.

"It doesn't seem like it's not too bad of a sting, but if we need to, we're going to the hospital," Edward said and Bella realized her mistake. The key was to take his mind _off_ of her getting hurt.

"Are you composing any new songs? You know I love them," she said and Edward realized what she was doing.

"Bella, it's going to be okay," he sighed, pinching his nose. "We're going to make you better and make sure you never get hurt _again_." Bella swallowed. Edward was getting far too protective of her now. Even though she wouldn't mind having him around her a lot more, she knew that he'd be in a constant panic and find reasons not to hunt. She didn't want him in pain.

They were at the Cullen household within twenty minutes. Edward picked Bella up and whisked her into the house. He growled when he realized Carlisle wasn't there.

Jasper appeared in the living room, as calm and restrained as ever. He gently smiled at Bella and Edward.

"Have fun at the beach?" he asked quietly.

"Where's everyone else?" Edward growled, ignoring his brother's question.

"They went hunting," Jasper smiled wryly. "And left me all alone. I'm glad you came—now I have some entertainment." He winked at Bella, who blushed. She wasn't fully used to the "weakest link" of the Cullen family…for that matter, even. Jasper always stayed as far away as possible from Bella so he could keep her away from danger. Bella understood, of course, and hadn't grown close to him over the years she'd known him.

"What's wrong?" Jasper asked, and noticed the red discoloration on Bella's skin. "Oh. Jellyfish sting?" Bella nodded sheepishly and blushed. Jasper swallowed the venom that filled his mouth.

"Yeah," Bella admitted sheepishly. "I can't go anywhere without hurting myself. Hang on, how did you know that it was a jellyfish sting?"

"We'll talk about that later, Bella," Jasper chuckled, glancing at his brother. "Right now, we should take care of that injury before Edward explodes."

"Oh." Bella hadn't noticed until now how stiff Edward had become. "Okay."

"Sit down and I'll look at it," Jasper ordered. "By the way you're acting—and feeling—I'm fairly sure it's just a minor sting. But, you can never be too careful when it comes to things as serious as jellyfish stings."

Bella sat down and blushed as Jasper's fingertips grazed her stomach, inspecting the sting. She winced when he accidentally touched her too hard.

"Sorry," Jasper murmured. "It's getting all the usual symptoms of a sting—rash, pain, raised welts . . . Are you itching, Bella?"

"Yes," Bella said, and Jasper nodded.

"We'll need to start helping your sting," Jasper said, and Bella's eyes widened. She'd read on the Internet how to cure jellyfish stings. And what she'd read didn't make her comfortable whatsoever.

"You're not going to get someone to pee on it, are you?" she asked, her heart racing at the idea.

"No, no," Jasper chuckled. "Ice and vinegar. They're the best remedies."

Edward was instantly out of the room. He returned within two seconds, holding an ice pack up to Bella's stomach and gently dabbing her with the vinegar. Bella smiled appreciatively at her boyfriend while grinding her teeth from the pain.

"So, how did you know it was a jellyfish sting?" Bella asked, grabbing the ice pack and wincing when she tried to move it.

"I've been stung before—in my human life, of course," Jasper smiled. "Jellyfish don't affect us vampires. Though one _did_ try to sting me when Alice and I were on vacation at the beach." He chuckled while Bella smiled.

"Wow," she commented. "How do you remember?"

"Well, that's the thing," Jasper shrugged. "I don't remember much about my human life…before the Civil War. Though that memory has stuck in my head for a while. My father, brother, and I were out fishin' one day. I was quite young then—probably only ten or eleven. And I caught a huge fish; the largest fish my family had ever seen. But, the fish was so big that I just got dragged right into the ocean…right into a jellyfish. My father and brother had to dive in and help me out, with a big ol' jellyfish stuck right to my leg."

"You got _dragged _in? By a _fish?_" Bella asked. She'd never pictured Jasper falling whatsoever . . . even when she pictured him as a young, blushing child.

"Yep," Jasper laughed. "Bella, I was clumsier than you when I was a human, no offence."

"None taken," Bella mumbled, blushing.

"Though I didn't see much action in the Civil War," Jasper continued, "everyone was surprised to see me alive. At least I got a horse when I moved up in the ranks."

"Seriously?" Bella asked, her jellyfish sting completely forgotten now. "You _really_ tripped and fell everywhere?"

"Yes, ma'am," Jasper smirked. "There wasn't a day when I didn't have a bruise or sprain."

"Glad I'm not the only klutz in the family," Bella mumbled and Jasper laughed.

"Can you do me a favor?" Jasper asked and Bella looked at him in shock. She never suspected Jasper would ever want a favor from her.

"Yeah, uh, sure," Bella nodded and Jasper grinned.

"Don't tell Emmett my secret," he chuckled lightly.

"What secret?" Jasper had trusted a secret with her? Why did he? She and him were never very close.

"The secret of me being clumsy as a human," Jasper explained. "Emmett would never let that go for a couple of decades. It gets quite annoying after the first five years of being teased . . . and it continues to go. So, please don't tell him."

"You're secret's safe with me, Jasper," Bella smiled, feeling her cheeks heat up again at the touching moment they were having. Jasper seemed distracted by her injury again. He gently put his hand on her ice pack and moved it out of the way so he could see her sting again.

"How does it feel?" Jasper asked, and Bella shrugged.

"Less painful," she admitted. "I'm glad you were here to help me."

Jasper looked down sheepishly. He wasn't very comfortable expressing his emotions to anyone except Alice, but Bella made him comfortable, too.

"I'm glad I was here as well," he said, his golden eyes meeting Bella's chocolate brown ones. "I'm sorry I've been keeping my distance from you, Bella. I just don't want you to get hurt—"

"No. Don't be," Bella interrupted him. "You're a really great big brother, Jazz." Jasper smiled widely at her compliment and use of his nickname.

"And you're a great little sister, Bell," he said and Bella blushed.

Edward watched in disbelief as Jasper and Bella continued talking. He'd never seen Jasper be so open with someone, aside from Alice. And he'd never seen Bella so comfortable in his house.

"You know, we're a lot alike." Bella shivered, and Jasper wrapped her up in a towel. He waited silently for her to explain. That was one thing Bella hadn't gotten used to. Jasper was a very patient and silent listener and never asked her to continue or pressured her forward—unlike anyone she had ever met. "Well, we're both from the south, we both got stung by jellyfish, we're both klutzy, we are both in love with vampires, and we like books."

"You're right," Jasper smiled. "We are alike."

The two of them started talking more and bonding until the entire Cullen family came back. Then Jasper even joined in on whatever activity they were going to do with Bella.

_She made a change in him,_ Alice commented to Edward in her mind. Edward grinned crookedly down at her.

"She did," he nodded in agreement. "All over a jellyfish sting."

**

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading! This was absolutely the most interesting plot I've ever heard of. I hope I pleased you, whoever sent in this plot bunny!**


End file.
